


Never My Love

by Tafka



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Post-Dragon Age: Inquisition - Trespasser DLC, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:07:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26221624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tafka/pseuds/Tafka
Summary: Cullen and Cadash share an ordinary day together
Relationships: Female Cadash/Cullen Rutherford
Comments: 6
Kudos: 14
Collections: Black Emporium 2020





	Never My Love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cartadwarfwithaheartofgold (manka)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/manka/gifts), [whereismywarden (PearOh)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PearOh/gifts), [suchanadorer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/suchanadorer/gifts).



> Yes, this is a songfic in the year 2020. The song that goes with this fic is [Never My Love by The Association](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oOxfGpTfa8), and is not required listening, but is very much recommended.

Malika was late to awaken that morning, and chose to stay abed a while instead of immediately preparing for the day. The sun beamed through the crack in the heavy curtains and fell over the foot of her bedspread, where her husband’s aging mabari still slept. Eventually, taking care not to disturb the dog, she rolled out of bed and into her dressing gown.

She briefly considered dressing before breakfast, but swiftly put that idea from her mind. Food was far more important than clothes, and there were no guests or appointments scheduled for today. As she made her way to the kitchen, she caught the scent of frying bacon and pancake batter.

Standing in the doorway to the kitchen, she took a moment to appreciate the view of her husband from behind as he cooked. It was not an uncommon occurrence, but still one she appreciated all the same.

“I was about to go wake you,” Cullen said without turning around, “breakfast is almost ready.”

“Thank you for making it,” she said as she slid into her chair. The kitchen table was only a bit too high for her, and only a bit too low for Cullen, a compromise that had been made early in their marriage and now seemed just the right size for them both.

He kissed her head, and served her pancakes and bacon, and she felt such a rush of affection for him in that moment that she had to put her hand over her heart to stop it beating out of her chest.

“I love you so,” she said.

“Not just because I made you bacon, I hope?” He teased.

She chuckled and shook her head, “Not just because of the bacon.”

He grinned, and they finished their food in companionable silence until the dog, Brutus, came gamboling into the room, summoned by the potential of dropped scraps.

They cleared the table together, and he gave her a proper kiss once the dishes had been deposited in the sink. His hand wandered into the opening of her robe, trailing tickling touches across her stomach to make her giggle.

Malika offered to wash the dishes, since Cullen cooked, even though the task was a bit tricky to do one-handed. He left her to it, and so was not around to witness her allowing Brutus to have the drippings.

She dressed after that, and then retired to her workroom to answer correspondence. In the years she served as Inquisitor, she would not have imagined how much letter-writing would take over her retirement. There was no Josephine, after all, and no fleet of Josephine’s secretaries to address and sort and respond to the mountains of letters sent to the Herald of Andraste. Now the stream of letters had hardly abated, but it was up to Cadash to open every envelope, read every word, and respond where she could. She usually put aside a few hours every day for correspondence, and Brutus curled up by her feet while she did, still grateful for the forbidden treat.

After the letters, she emerged from the workroom to do some chores around the house. She happened to bring rubbish out to compost at just the moment Cullen finished chopping wood, and was headed back into the house to wash up. She intercepted him for a kiss by tugging on the sleeve of his shirt, and then beaming as he slowly leaned down to brush their lips together. She went on, smiling, to the compost heap, and he continued on to the house with a similar smile on his face.

Cullen took his lunch in his office, while he worked on his own correspondence, so Malika ate alone in the kitchen and read a book. In the afternoon, Cullen headed out on his horse to visit the sanctuary for former Templars he had established. It was farther out from town then their home was, in the rolling Ferelden hills, surrounded by the beauty of nature. Malika often visited the Templars that lived there along with him, but today he would go alone.

The afternoon passed slowly and softly, aided by a short nap on the sofa. The short nap became a much longer snooze and Malika was awoken by the weight of Cullen sitting on the cushion beside her. The shadows had grown long in the sitting room, but golden light still shone through the windows and illuminated the look of adoration on his face.

“Good evening, my love.” he offered her a small smile with the words.

“Hmmmmnnnff,” she replied, rubbing her hand over her face, and attempting to return to napping.

“I have a question for you. Are you happy here, my love?” he asked, gently, once she had awoken.

“Of course,” she responded, rubbing sleep from her eyes before levering herself into a sitting position, “What brings this on?”

“I just wanted to make sure,” he ran a hand over her knee, and squeezed once. “I know this life is very different from the one you had in the Carta, and different from the one we had when the Inquisition was still together.”

“Yes,” she agreed, “this life is much less likely to get me stabbed.”

“And you don’t regret marrying me?”

“Regret it?” she had no idea that Cullen even thought this might be the case, “Of course not, Cullen, I love you, and I swore to spend my life with you. And if you asked me again today, I would marry you right over again.”

“Good,” he said decisively. “I wanted to check in, to make sure that you won’t ever wish you made a different choice.”

“Never, my love.”

He leaned in and kissed her then, thoroughly. She wrapped her arm around his shoulder and clung to him as they continued to exchange kisses.

They were interrupted from anything more passionate by the mabari Brutus, who nosed the sitting room door open and whined that his dinner was delayed. Malika cooed at him, and the three of them went to spend the rest of their evening together.


End file.
